Progressive Metal

Týr, A Night At The Nordic House (Metal Blade 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

Folk metal icons Týr have recorded a live album with an orchestra that exhibits an unforgettable musical symbiosis, A Night At The Nordic House.

It has been a little over twenty years since progressive folk metal band Týr was founded in the Faroe Islands. Their location is certainly a memorable aspect of the band’s character, but of course it is the music they create that sets them apart. Over the years they have released eight full-length studio albums, the most recent being Hel (2019). Their style is a progressive form of epic folk metal that overlaps Viking and death metal as well.

The new album was recorded live at The Nordic House in Tórshavn, in the Faroe Islands on February 8th, 2020, with the Symphony Orchestra of the Faroe Islands. If ever there was a metal band that could make effective and dramatic use of an accompanying orchestra, Týr fits the bill. From the press release … “Working with the Symphony Orchestra was without a doubt one of the highlights of our careers,” admits vocalist Heri Joensen. “The feeling of sheer sophisticated power behind us was extraordinarily uplifting. We were awed by how well the songs worked in a symphonic setting. ‘By The Sword In My Hand,’ for example, seems to take on a new life.”

There are eighteen tracks on the massive album, including the opening intro. “Gates of Hel” is the ideal song to hear first if you want to know what to expect from the rest of the performance. The slow build is enormously enhanced by the fullness of the orchestration. The primary instrument is still the guitar, and the voices and orchestral apparatus work a pervasive, all-encompassing effect. The gruff lead vocals match the perfectly the melodic aspects of the overall musical construction.

“By the Sword in My Hand” is another exemplary performance. The theme is an epic tale of conquest and the ideal instantiation of the narrative. Dazzling lead guitar work and soaring choruses combine into overwhelming musical power. The final track, “Álvur Kongur,” is the capstone, and you get the feeling at the end that seeing this performance would have been as amazing an experience as hearing it.

A Night At The Nordic House is out on Friday March 18th through Metal Blade Records. Highly recommended for fans of Týr, and genre fans as well – but, seriously, if you appreciate folk/Viking/epic metal then you are already a Týr fan.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://tyrband.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/tyrband

Týr website, https://tyr.fo/

Metal Blade Records, https://www.metalblade.com/us/

© Wayne Edwards. All rights reserved.

Týr, A Night At The Nordic House (Metal Blade 2022)

Amorphis, Halo (Atomic Fire 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

In their fourth decade, Finland’s Amorphis continue to flex with Halo.

Formed in the earliest part of the nineteen nineties, Amorphis began making progressive doom and death metal music with notable creativity. Over the years, they moved into a more melodic – or perhaps melancholy – range of expression. The depth of the music did not change, and neither did the ingenuity in composition. Halo is the band’s fourteenth full-length studio album, and along the way they have released multiple splits, EPs, compilations, and live albums. The sheer volume of production is enough to give you pause. In every instance, attention to detail and quality was never overlooked. The band is Tomi Joutsen (vocals), Esa Holopainen (guitar), Tomi Koivusaari (guitar), Santeri Kallio (keys), Olli-Pekka Laine (bass), and Jan Rechberger (drums).

The new album is big, with eleven songs landing in the four-to-five-minute range. Across tracks, the musicians take the opportunity to explore divergent tonal and stylistic approaches to composition. Alternating medium-coarse and clean vocals is common, and the use of keyboards to expand the sound is typical. Esa Holopainen describes the album this way: “It is thoroughly recognizable Amorphis from beginning to end but the general atmosphere is a little bit heavier and more progressive and also organic compared to its predecessor.” Extra heaviness is always welcome, as far as I am concerned.

“Windmane” stands out to me especially for the lead guitar and keys work. It is also a good example overall of the album with its many movements and changes. “War” is a great track as well, with persistent heaviness recurring throughout, and “The Wolf” is a wonderful opportunity to escape to another state of being. The album will surely please fans of Amorphis and it will have broad appeal to aficionados of many heavy music subgenres. Recommended.

Halo is out on Friday, February 11th through Atomic Fire Records in a plethora of formats, bundles, and versions, along with tie-in merch.

Band photo by Sam Jansen.

Links.

Amorphis website, https://amorphis.net/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/amorphis

Atomic Fire website, https://visionmerch.com/atomicfire/

Amorphis, Halo (Atomic Fire 2022)

Mastodon, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Danville, Virginia, September 12, 2021

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

I have been enamored with the music of Mastodon since Crack the Skye. Somehow, I never saw them live until 2021, and I caught them three times this year. Never miss a chance to see their show – it is incredible.

All photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Website, https://www.mastodonrocks.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Mastodon

YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/MastodonMusic

Blue Ridge Rock Festival coverage at Ryze-Up magazine, https://www.ryze-up.com/music-2/blue-ridge-rock-festival-2021/

Mastodon, Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Danville, Virginia, September 12, 2021

Mastodon, Hushed and Grim (Reprise Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Progressive metal band Mastodon cap a big year with a new full-length album, Hushed and Grim.

Since 2000, the band has been Troy Sanders (bass and vocals), Brann Dailor (drums and vocals), Brent Hinds (guitar and vocals), and Bill Kelliher (guitar and vocals). I remember exactly when I started listening to Mastodon. I did not hear their first long-player, Remission, when it came out in 2002, but I did hear Leviathan two years later. I liked, I recall, but for some reason it didn’t land with me the first time the way it ultimately would. Time passed and then I heard Crack The Skye (2009) – there was no turning back from that. I immediately went back through the entire catalogue and since have waited less-than-patiently for every new release. Mastodon is one of my absolute favorite metal bands.

In 2021, Mastodon has been showing up more regularly than most bands at festivals, sometimes stepping in at the last minute to replace bands that were sidelined by covid-19, as they did at Psycho Las Vegas, and in a headline spot, too. I have seen them several times live this year and always to my amazement. Each and every performance is masterful.

The new album is another exceptional set the band has added to their already galactic catalogue. Early singles were “Pushing the Tides” and “Teardrinker,” both of which have more than a million spins on Spotify by now. The more recently released “Sickle and Peace” already has half a million plays. Their fans are legion.

Mastodon’s music has evolved over the years, and now it in the complex and leans toward the progressive end of the metal spectrum. It has a haunting quality, and hypnotizing nature that draws you quickly in and holds you as the enchantment unfolds. The new album is almost an hour and a half long and it seems exactly right in its construction. Not extended or stretched; just precisely as it should be.

I am not going to pick favorites because every song has its necessary place, from the reflective “Skeleton of Splendor” to the forceful “Pain with an Anchor” to the overwhelming closer “Gigantium.” I will say this album goes toward the top of the list of the work the band has released. I found it to be captivating. Highly recommended.

Hushed and Grim is out now on all streaming platforms and in the expected physicals. Look to the links below.

Band photo by Wayne Edwards at Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2021.

Links.

Mastodon, https://www.mastodonrocks.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Mastodon

YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/MastodonMusic

Mastodon, Hushed and Grim (Reprise Records 2021)

At The Gates, The Nightmare Of Being (Century Media 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The seventh studio album from At The Gates is a progressive take on the condition of existence.

For more than thirty years the Melodic Death Metal band from Sweden, At The Gates, has been a consistent creator of heavy music. From The Red in the Sky Is Ours (1994) to 2018’s To Drink from the Night Itself, you could always count on them for compelling new metal that rang out in ways you’d never heard before. And here we see that again on the new album, The Nightmare Of Being.

The band – Tomas Lindberg (vocals), Martin Larsson (guitar), Jonas Björler (bass), Adrian Erlandsson (drums), and Jonas Stålhammar (guitar) – expertly executes an expanded palette of composition that embraces progressive metal elements more extensively than fans might have anticipated. An outlying example is “Garden of Cyrus” which features a saxophone – not an instrument you hear on a lot of death metal albums, but one that fits perfectly in this song, complementing gruff vocals and lyrical guitars. Still, it was a surprise to hear it

Not every song is an oddity. Long-time fans and newcomers looking for heavy, crushing metal are going to find it here, too. In most cases, the songs have more than one movement that is reached through effluence or stark shift, each standing in seeming, if not actual, juxtaposition to its neighboring fellows. The complexity of the music is one of its most attractive features.

The new album does sound different in many ways compared to early work of the band. For me it is a fitting addition to the canon of At The Gates and it is a strong sign of the continuing vibrancy of the musicians. Recommended.

The Nightmare Of Being is out now from Century Media in a plethora of versions. You can get it all over.

Links.

Website, http://atthegates.se/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/AtTheGatesOfficial

Century Media, https://www.centurymedia.com/artist.aspx?IdArtist=729

At The Gates, The Nightmare Of Being (Century Media 2021)

Midhaven, Of the Lotus and the Thunderbolt (2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Midhaven bring forth a new concept album on their sophomore long-player Of the Lotus and the Thunderbolt.

The Mumbai heavy music trio Midhaven is made up of musicians Aditya Mohanan (guitar and vocals), Aviraj Kumar (drums), and Karan Kaul (vocals and guitar). They released an EP in 2013, Tales From The Tide, and followed it up the very next year with Spellbound. The music they create can be broadly described as heavy metal and it runs a wide spectrum from death metal to progressive, often incorporating fusion elements.

Of the Lotus and the Thunderbolt is a concept album that deals with ideas of time and rebirth. The band describes the ideas that they incorporate into the compositions well: “We follow the single but universal soul on its journey to realization, with symbolisms that are deeply rooted in the collective Indian subconscious. They are curated in a manner wherein each song appears as though it’s a chapter in a book, conveying individual meanings that when heard together form a holistic understanding of the universe.”

“Para Brahman” starts the set off and has a talk-in segment beginning near the front that establishes the narrative over a mid-tempo, mild prog base. Next we hear exceptional lead guitar work on “Primal Song” – this song flat out slaps and so it is no wonder it was chosen as a single.

“Codeman” is proggy, poppy, energetic, and again features some great guitar work. The tempo changes on “The Immanent Effervescence of Sorrow” which opens with storm effects and is quiet and beautiful. “Zhitro” is ten minutes long and is very doom-like for the first few minutes then it rolls into a death metal posture before transforming into hypno-prog. It is my favorite song on the album.

The last two songs are “Mahakaal,” which is grungy and also very ritual-music-like, and “Bhairav,” a more ethereal and understated piece. As a concept album, this new Midhaven release delivers what it promises. Even without connecting one song to the next thematically, it is an impressive heavy music achievement. Recommended.

Of the Lotus and the Thunderbolt is out now. You can find it at the Bandcamp link below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://midhaven.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/midhaven.ind/

Midhaven, Of the Lotus and the Thunderbolt (2021)

Silver Talon, Decadence And Decay (M-Theory Audio 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The first full-length album from dark power metal band Silver Talon is an epic attack on your senses.

With a sound as big and complete as Silver Talon produces, Decadence And Decay is a promising sign of what we hope will turn out to be a long string of mesmerizing albums. The band is unusually large, with three listed guitarists: Wyatt Howell (vocals), Bryce VanHoosen (guitar), Sebastian Silva (guitar), Devon Miller (guitar), Walter Hartzell (bass), and Michael Thompson (drums). They make the most of all these assets in the performance of their sweeping compositions.

The music the band creates is usually described as Power Metal but that does not catch all the aspects of Silver Talon. The precision of the lead guitar – and the astonishing speed – has to be heard to be believed. There are many prog elements here, too, with complex parts working together to achieve a greater whole. Wyatt Howell’s vocals press to the soaring in a broad range. The rhythm section is at times in the service of the meter and at other moments a whirling inclination of its own. Taken together, the effect can be overwhelming.

The lyrical themes are often dark fantasy and breathe the essence of large gathered forces in conflict. The eight songs on the album average in the five minute range giving plenty of opportunity for extension and expression. The epic closer, “Touch The Void,” runs over eight minutes at the end and has the full complement of entreaties. It is essentially a suite, and it tests the highs and lows, the speeds and slows. If you are looking for spacious metal with both straight-forward and complex compartments, you will be glad you found Silver Talon. Recommended.

Digital, CD, cassette, and vinyl versions become available from M-Theory Audio on Friday, May 28th.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://silvertalon.bandcamp.com/album/decadence-and-decay-2

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/silvertalonband

Silver Talon website, https://www.silver-talon.com/

M-Theory Audio, https://www.m-theoryaudio.com/

Silver Talon, Decadence And Decay (M-Theory Audio 2021)

Gojira, Fortitude (Roadrunner Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

In their twentieth year as a metal band Gojira issues their seventh full-length studio album and it is one of the very best.

Gojira is from France and they play heavy metal. The music has groove and progressive elements to it, and you do not mistake Gojira for another band when you hear their music. Magma (2016) is the most recent album up to now, and while they have been quiet on the recording front since it came out they have been playing live and dazzling fans continuously. The band is Jean-Michel Labadie (bass), Mario Duplantier (drums), Christian Andreu (guitars), Joe Duplantier (guitar and vocals).

There are eleven tracks on the album, beginning with “Born For One Thing.” The drum lays in a march cadence while the guitar wind-up does not prepare you for the metal when it kicks in a few seconds later. The composition is heavy and complex, syncopated and variegated, groovy and mysterious – all these things at once. “Amazonia” comes up next, with its subtle slither and shimmer. Its every element is mesmerizing, like an shamanic chant. The narrative is compelling and delivered with authority.

The songs on Fortitude are big and ambitious. Some are delivered on a softer register throughout, like “Another World” and others demonstrate an incredible range from peace to aggression, as in “Hold On.” Progressive influences live in and amongst the growling metal. And then there is the title track, which is a short reflective piece that transitions into “The Chant,” a song that builds into a powerful statement before handing off the torch to “The Sphinx” with its heavy and sinister posture. This set wraps on “Grind” featuring punishing percussion, whispering vocal savagery, and stabbing, whirling guitars.

I was expecting something big from Gojira on this new album. What they have done is even more than I expected. We are all going to be reading about how this album is setting a standard others will be compared to and let me add my voice to that chorus. I am sure Fortitude will be on the 2021 Best Of list. Highly recommended.

Fortitude is out now. Hit the website link below to investigate the options.

Live photo by Wayne Edwards, Aftershock Festival 2019.

Links.

Website, https://www.gojira-music.com/?frontpage=true

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/GojiraMusic

Roadrunner Records, https://store.roadrunnerrecords.com/gojira.html

Gojira, Fortitude (Roadrunner Records 2021)

Harakiri For the Sky, Mære (AOP Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Harakiri For The Sky set the post-metal canons to kill for their new epic melodic Black Metal album, Mære.

The band is Matthias Sollak, who plays all the instruments, and V. Wahntraum (JJ) who does the singing. Mære is the fifth full-length album for Harakiri For The Sky since 2012, an impressive production schedule by itself, the significance of which is magnified when you consider the other bands the musicians are part of. The music has a post-metal approach generally, and you can hear melodic Black Metal in there prominently alongside many other melded styles and takes. The themes tend toward the glum, with a heavy dose of hopelessness to season the brew.

The album is gigantic, with ten long songs averaging in the eight minute range. “I, Pallbearer” opens the set, and could function as a single because it is a look through the window at what the album is about. The first thing you hear is a plucking line, then a solid riff that is a melody line of its own. The music fills in over the leading sixty seconds and then the hammer comes down with the introduction of vocals, followed by an even bigger build in the percussion. The song is complex and carefully structured, giving it a Prog ambience to go along with the broader arc of melodic Black Metal. Expect this throughout.

There is a lot to admire in this album. My favorite tracks (along with the opener) are “And Oceans Between” us for the raw energy and emotion it exudes and “Time Is A Ghost” with its elegant, gentle beginning that is swallowed by a landslide of crushing metal only to survive, reëmerge, and then be overtaken again. Mære is an album you will return to over and again in different mental states and for different reasons. Recommended.

Friday February 19th is the official release date, and AOP Records has the goods, accessible through Bandcamp. Five of the songs are already available if you want to get a jump on it with a digital preorder.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/maere

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/HarakiriForTheSky/

AOP Records, http://www.aoprecords.de/

Harakiri For the Sky, Mære (AOP Records 2021)

Cult Of Luna, The Raging River (Red Creek Recordings 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

The follow-up to A Dawn To Fear (2019) is a thirty-eight minute EP that is in many ways a continuation of that music.

Twenty years in and Cult of Luna is getting more confident and accomplished with every passing annum. The band from Umeå, Sweden has released seven full-length albums, many live records, splits, singles, and EPs – the enormity of their catalogue is imposing. Their stylistic orientation is a progressive advance, a sort of post-hardcore, post-metal that is genuinely more of a brew than a mixture, giving them the opportunity to expand and contract at will. The Metal Archives lists the current band members as Johannes Persson (vocals and guitar), Magnus Lindberg (guitar and percussion), Fredrik Kihlberg (guitar and vocals), Andreas Johansson (bass), Kristian Karlsson (keys and vocals), and Thomas Hedlund (drums).

There are five songs on The Raging River, three of which run over eight minutes. “Three Bridges” breaks the ice with four descending, forlorn, echoing notes, repeated into the air until an industrial clanging beats in, joined by allied and opposing instruments in due course. The vocal lands in a strained ravening. The elements that might seem discordant, alien to each other form a collective meaning when brought expertly together in willful composition. “What I Leave Behind” runs like a second movement to the first song, and the soft vocals of the bridge piece, “Inside of a Dream,” reminds us of the beauty and the sadness in the world.

“I Remember” and “Wave After Wave” are the joint anchors, and they lead off with a towering wall of sound that pushes you back and makes you vulnerable to the vocal instrument that arrives just after. More ponderous and menacing now, the music is an effective deliverance of the heartfelt description from the beginning of the set. Powerful and recalcitrant in the sense of follow-through, the music reveals to you the weight of your own mind through example. Meaning that is unique to you emerges from the music as you listen.

The album is out now. There are many vinyl options to choose from – or at least there used to be, as they are selling briskly. There is always the download option if you missed out on the physical. Recommended.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://cultofluna.bandcamp.com/album/the-raging-river

Website, https://www.cultofluna.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/cultoflunamusic

Red Creek, https://red-crk.com/

Cult Of Luna, The Raging River (Red Creek Recordings 2021)